Arachne
by Tangent
Summary: During the final fight at the particle collider, Alchemax spider 38 descends through the dimensional instability and ends up inside a certain locker in Winslow High. Her trigger event effectively hijacked by the Spider totem, Taylor Hebert becomes Brockton Bay's newest hero, Arachne. However, Alchemax spider 38 survived to deliver its bite to three more individuals...
1. Prelude

**ARACHNE:**

 **A WORM/Spiderverse story**  
 **by Tangent**

No one involved in the battle noticed as Alchemax spider 38 slowly descended towards the stream of colliding particles as six different spider themed heroes fought Olivia Octavius for control of the massive chamber so that five of them could go home.

Its eventual passage through the stream and exit from this particular reality during the course of the battle also escaped everyone's attention.

In Brockton Bay, on Earth Bet, a fluctuating cluster of void bubbles formed inside a certain locker, just above and behind the head of Taylor Hebert, and a blue and red spider continued its slow descent from another reality...

"Please... Let me out!" Taylor sobbed, her voice raw. Not that she expected any more of a response than any of her previous screams or pleas for aid had garnered. Which was to say, none at all.

Despair claimed Taylor Hebert of Earth Bet, trapped in her locker by her tormentors, along with who knew what kind of horrific filth they had somehow put in there, and the multitude of creepy-crawlies. She barely even registered one particular spider bite, just one among innumerable previous bites from other spiders and insects that had already occurred since her ordeal began.

"Let... me... out..."

* * *

[DESTINATION]

[AGREEME-]

 **[THWIP-YOINK!]**

[CONFUSION]

[CONFUSION]

* * *

Taylor stumbled away from her locker, the door _finally_ having given way to her efforts to force it open. Dizzy and nauseous, she made her way to the school nurse.

Nurse Thomson, seeing Taylor stagger into her office covered in filth, scrapes, and bug bites (with some of the perpetrators still on the poor girl), immediately dialed 911, resulting in both an ambulance and a police cruiser showing up at Winslow shortly thereafter.

As Taylor was still coherent and not hysterical, she was actually able to provide a statement when the responding officers questioned her, and a _proper_ investigation into the incident (and the bullying campaign that led up to it) was opened before it could be covered up by the school's administration.

* * *

Aisha Laborn bounced on her toes as she tried to see what was going on through the crowd of gathering students staring at the bent remains of a locker door that looked like it had been pushed open from the inside. This jostling motion alarmed her impromptu red and blue passenger. "Ow! Something bit me!" Aisha flailed her arm, inadvertently flinging Alchemax spider 38 onto another nearby student who also failed to notice his new passenger.

When the fuzz showed up later to investigate the smelly mess, Aisha gleefully ratted out the popular kids she had heard pulled off the latest stunt before she was sent home with everyone else.

* * *

Greg Veder utterly failed to notice the colorful stowaway he had acquired earlier as he had tried to see what was going on back at the wrecked locker. He, along with a number of other students, had just been privately questioned about what they may or may not have witnessed about the incident, and whatever else they may have known that could possibly be related to it. Greg had, of course, dutifully told them everything he personally knew about the bullying campaign that Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, and the other popular chicks had been inflicting on Taylor Hebert since the previous year, with the odd break that ended with the locker stunt.

He was actually feeling really good about the whole thing, helping the cops and all. He couldn't wait to tell Taylor! He'd be like her hero or something, and maybe even give him a kiss or become his girlfriend!

"So, kid, I have to ask: If you knew the bullying campaign against Miss Hebert had been going on all this time, why didn't you come forward and tell someone before now?"

"Well, it's not like any of the teachers would listen anyway. They _always_ take the popular kids side! Always!"

A bit ashamed with the self-revelation that maybe he wasn't going to be seen in as heroic a light by Taylor due to his own inaction, Greg made his way through the halls to join all the other students leaving Winslow as the school was shut down.

"Ow!" Greg stumbled for a moment from the sharp pain in his calf before shaking his leg and continuing on...

* * *

"Hello... What have we here?" PRT Investigator Parker crouched down to take a closer look at a twitching blue and red blue spider he had spotted out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, Brock, bring the camera over here! I found something!"

"What'd ya find, Pete?" Brock asked as he came over.

"A red and blue spider. Probably toxic, given its coloration. I'm going to bag it as potential evidence," Parker stated as he pulled out a baggie and a set of tweezers.

Brock took a picture of Parker's find. "Is that writing on the bulby bit?"

"Yeah. Looks printed on. Hold on, I'll flip it over so we can read it better..." Carefully doing so revealed the ALCHEMAX 38 label printed in neat white letters on the spider's abdomen, which Brock took another picture of before Parker tried to actually pick it up.

Unfortunately, the previously barely twitching spider chose that moment to suddenly jump from where the tweezers had almost grabbed it to the gap between Parker's glove and sleeve, where it promptly delivered one last defiant bite. "Ow! It bit me!"

"Hold on! Hold on!" Brock declared as he seized the bag from Parker's other hand, using it to capture the specimen before it could get away. "Got it!" Sealing the bag and stowing it away, he pulled his partner's sleeve back and looked at the bite. "Doesn't look too bad, but you better head back and have it checked out anyway. As you said, it could be toxic. Here, take it with you."

"Thanks, Brock. Sorry about this."

"Thank me later by making sure your suit's properly sealed next time, okay? Now get going and make sure you check in with medical! That thing has _got_ to be some demented biotinker's toy!"

* * *

Director Emily Piggot of the PRT ENE was livid. When flags were raised from Sophia Hess' name coming up in a police investigation involving a very stupid and highly dangerous prank gone horribly wrong at Winslow High, she had ended up asking Hess, her handler, and Principle Blackwell some very pointed questions.

When Parker, one of her investigating troopers, came down sick from being bitten by a spider that was obviously the product of some bioengineering focused Tinker calling themselves Alchemax, she only became even more furious!

Ordering the school shut down and calling in the CDC (which, to be fair, had already been called but hadn't shown up yet), Piggot resolved to follow this incident all the way to the bottom if she had to.

Shadow Stalker was _done_ as a Ward.

And whoever this Alchemax turned out to be was going down along with her, if she had anything to say about it!


	2. Chapter 1

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

"Hey..."

Taylor looked over at the other girl who had been brought in and guided to the other bed in the room they now apparently were sharing at Brockton Bay General. Infectious disease ward, naturally, because of course the Terrible Trio's return to school prank just had to be as nasty as possible. The girl only looked vaguely familiar. Maybe someone she had seen occasionally in the halls between classes, but not someone she had ever shared any classes with. And definitely not one of the Trio's hangers on, so she decided to take a chance. "Hi."

"Roberta Sanchez."

"Taylor Hebert."

"Oh! You're the girl Hess shoved into the locker! You might be glad to know she's off to juvie. Again. Apparently she was on some sort of probation for something she had done back in November. Her buddies might be heading that way along with her after this stunt."

"I can only be so lucky," Taylor huffed. "Emma will probably worm her way out by pulling her 'my dad's a lawyer' card."

"No shit? Her old man's a lawyer?"

"Divorce layer, but yeah."

Sanchez chuckled. "Yeah, not happening. Not with the CDC called in and Winslow shut down from that stunt."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Bunch of us also got bug bites and came down sick from one thing or another from that nasty little brew they had going in your locker." Roberta sighed. "Not that we didn't sort of deserve it for being a bunch of lookie-loos who just had to try to catch a peek at the wrecked locker. Damn, Tay, that must have been some heavy adrenal surge! I mean, it's one thing to hear about hysterical strength on the Discovery channel or something, but to see the results first hand? Wow..."

"I guess..."

"No guess, Tay Tay," Roberta chided. "You're awesome. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Okay..." Taylor hesitated for a moment, then cautiously added "Bob."

Roberta snorted involuntarily, then burst out laughing!

Maybe... Just maybe... Things were beginning to look up.

Now if only the fever and nausea would go away...

* * *

Aisha stumbled into her room shakily after puking her guts out in the toilet once again. Not that her mother noticed, strung out as she was. Again. Probably should have gone back to dad's place, considering she was actually supposed to be living there since Brian rained hell down on the bastard that...

Aisha thought darkly on her mom's taste in boyfriends, not for the first time, but as she seemed to be between lovers at the moment, it was easier to deal with her than it was with how strict her dad was. Not that he ever hit her or anything, but he just didn't get her at all.

Plopping down across her bed, Aisha curled up in her blankets and zoned out into a fitful, fevered sleep...

* * *

Greg raided the fridge again for the fifteenth time since coming home from school. He felt a little dizzy and maybe a bit hot, but he mostly felt like he hadn't eaten in days!

Which was ridiculous, of course, given the gamer's paunch he had from eating too much Doritos and pizza while playing Space Opera. Not that he was huge or anything, but he definitely wasn't one of the jocks either.

Ugh... Food now. Then maybe he could actually stay asleep without feeling so restless.

As he drifted off, Greg wondered idly if Winslow was going to be open once again in the morning, and whether or not Taylor would see him as a hero or just another nobody who only came forward when it was convenient. Probably the later, if the cop's question meant anything.

His dreams were troubled, and he felt sick in the morning, but apparently the school was closed anyway for some reason so he didn't have to go in.

At least he didn't feel like he was starving anymore...

* * *

Parker reached over to grab the cup from the bedside tray in the isolation ward in the PRT's medical bay, where he was being held for observation after reporting in and turning over the Alchemax spider. So far, his symptoms had included dizziness, some nausea (alternating with brief, but controllable, hunger cravings), and a high fever. Not dangerously high, but bad enough. Oh, and really damn strange dreams which he dutifully logged every time he woke up.

Speaking of which, he set down the cup and reached over to pick up the note... book...

The cup was sticking to his hand.

"Oh, God damn it! I _liked_ this job!"

* * *

Taylor stared in the bathroom mirror in shock. Somehow the little paunch her belly had despite the fact that she was otherwise a human beanpole had disappeared, replaced by girl-abs, muscle tone she definitely never had before, ever, and actual boobs that were more than just a teasing suggestion.

How the fuck did this happen?

"Tay Tay! You gonna be done anytime soon? I really gotta pee!"

"I'll be right out!" Taylor quickly tried to put on the bra, brought over by her father the night before as part of a set of clean clothes for her to use, along with the notebooks she had finally told him about (the police wanted to make a copy of what she had written as corroborating evidence to go along with all the hate mail in her stuffed school email accounts). Tried being the operative term, as her new bosom, nice as it was to finally have one to speak of, was a bit past what her bra could comfortably hold.

Aaaand… there! Finally. A bit tight, and definitely uncomfortable, but it was on. Reaching over to grab her hospital gown, Taylor winced as one of the straps of her bra snapped. "Ow!"

"You alright in there, Tay Tay?"

"Yeah! Bra broke!"

"You should probably have gotten rid of your old ones when they got too small. Your dad probably grabbed that one by mistake."

"You're probably right..."

Like hell she was. Taylor didn't have any smaller bras!

* * *

Aisha shrugged off her blankets and sat up, waiting a moment for the dizziness to pass befor standing and stumbling to the bathroom to relieve her tortured bladder. Between her fever, the funky dreams she had every damn time she fell asleep, and alternating between feeling starving and too nauseous to keep anything down, she felt like death warmed over.

Screw school. She wasn't going in today.

It wasn't like her mom would notice anyway. Probably wouldn't even care if she did.

* * *

"Greg, you've been puking your guts out all morning. Get dressed. We're taking you to the hospital."

"What about school?" Greg had to at least _try_ to tell Taylor that he had told the cops about all the bullying she had gone through. That had to count for _something_ , right? Even if the cop he spoke to seemed to think he should have come forward sooner.

"No school for at least a week. The CDC shut Winslow down, and a bunch of the staff is under investigation for letting this happen under their noses."

"Oh."

What was the CDC, and what did it have to do with anything?

* * *

"Well, you are _definitely_ demonstrating parahuman abilities. Whoever this Alchemax cape is, apparently he or she found the Holy Grail of triggerless power making."

"And was irresponsible enough to somehow let a bunch of school girls sneak one of his or her biotinkered spiders into school. I'm pretty sure it was probably stuffed in the same locker as all the other creepy crawlies."

"Yeah, looks like. Anyway, you're definitely stronger, and gradually getting more so over time, and your reflexes are showing a marked improvement. We're also pretty sure that you can support your own weight now with just one hand or foot when you have your adhesion power active. And those notes you gave us turned out to be some sort of temporary adhesive chemical. Really strong stuff, but it dissolves into inert residue after an hour after being exposed to open air, so it's kind of useless."

"I wouldn't say that, exactly. I think I could do something with it if we put it in some sort of pressurized container. Give me the notebook, I'm getting more ideas!"

"Triggerless power up, and now you're going for all the ratings. Some guys have all the luck, Pete."

"I'm still out of a job, Eddy. You know capes can't work for the PRT."

"So you'll be in the Protectorate instead. Big deal. Just remember you were one of us first, okay?"

"Always, Eddy. Always."

"Damn straight. Now let's see what you got there..." Edward Brock took a look at what his (now former) partner was jotting down. "Some sort of high pressure sprayer? I guess that'd work, but I still don't see how this is any better than confoam."

"Confoam needs a releasing agent. This stuff doesn't, and I think it's even more environmentally friendly when it dissolves."

"Okay, you might actually have something there, Web."

"Web?"

"You know that's going to make a web line if it's sprayed out under that kind of pressure, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it would at that."

"So Web. Make it two bees, for the cool factor. If this stuff can compete with confoam, you may as well own it, right? I bet the PR guys would love it!"

"They let Clockblocker keep his name."

"Not like they had a choice with how he announced himself when introduced to the press. Don't know why he didn't like Stopwatch."

"Eh, kids. What can you do? I'll go ahead and see if they'll accept Webb as my cape name. Hardly the worst one out there."

* * *

"I AM THE ENCHILADA KING!" Greg declared deliriously as he suddenly sat up from the emergency room bed. A moment later, he fell back and zonked right back to sleep again, unaware that he had said anything at all.

"Well, at least now we know where the leftovers went," Mr. Veder commented to his wife as they sat by their son's bedside.


	3. Chapter 2

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

Taylor... No. Arachne. Arachne examined herself in the bureau mirror. Over the past week since her five day stay in Brockton Bay General's infectious disease ward she had discretely hit several different thrift shops spread out across Brockton Bay in order to acquire a few "necessities." All duly paid for with her meager allowance, or using money her dad had given her for larger purchases (unlike the doctors, who had no way of knowing, Danny did actually notice that his daughter now needed larger bras than what she had been using - he just wasn't going to buy them himself), as she was going to be a hero, not a thief.

Her _current_ costume, done up in the same over all design that she wanted to use for her eventual primary costume, was made from several black theater body stockings, a white hoodie, and a red shirt with a blue spiderweb design, all cut up and sewn together once again into the configuration she envisioned, using fingers far more nimble than they used to be.

As an after thought, she had added a pretty blue spider logo on the back to match the color of the shoe bits she had decided to use.

She wasn't sure why she wanted the blue shoe bits, but it just felt right to have them.

Sure, it wouldn't provide nearly as much protection as her primary costume would once it was finished, nor look as good, but to be fair, it probably looked better over thermal underwear than the her main suit would (her tiny allies were perfectly capable implementing the special defensive weaves she had thought up while under her direction). And it was ready now, with the caveat that she would be using the one piece of her main costume that was ready - the mask.

And the reason for all this rush was that she finally had a _working_ set of the webshooter design she had thought up to go along with the web fluid formulas she had been writing down so meticulously since even before she had been released from the hospital.

And boy, wasn't jotting down and hiding those notes a mini-adventure in and of itself with all the doctors and nurses coming in and out at random times and Bobbie as a study buddie one bed over.

Yeah, Bobbie seemed to be becoming her first real friend since Emma betrayed her, unlike that faker, Julia. It helped that Bobbie hadn't actually shared any classes with either Taylor or her tormentors, and hadn't ever been part of Emma's 'In Crowd' either. And with Winslow still shut down due to so many of the faculty being under investigation, a lot of students were being transferred, at least temporarily, to the other schools. Both Bobbie and she had ended up being among those taken in by Arcadia, so they had come to an agreement to _continue_ being study buddies in hopes of being able to qualify for staying there if and when Winslow was ever opened again.

That didn't mean that Taylor was going to trust her new friend with every little secret. Especially not with her cape identity.

It would probably be a long time before Taylor came anywhere even close to trusting anyone that much again, if ever.

Taylor huffed, and then did some preliminary stretches while she cleared her mind of such negative thoughts.

Tonight would be her first patrol as a hero

She was, perhaps rightfully so, a bit nervous. But also excited.

Carefully opening her bedroom window to sneak out, then shutting it quietly afterwards as she clung to the wall.

Yeah. New England coastal weather in January. The thermals had been a good idea. She was definitely going to keep this version of her costume to wear over her primary one on cold days, even after it was finished.

Now... where to go for her first patrol?

* * *

Aisha huffed in frustration.

Sure, the black leotard she had liberated while playing with her new invisibility power (along with all the other junk she had wanted in the spur of the moment) was sufficiently form fitting to showcase her new tits, but the white leather spider design cutout she has sewn over it turned out to be too stiff, totally defeating the effect she had been going for.

Okay, she had done her invisible streaker thing in all the other schools, a few stores, and the mall, just for kicks. And almost losing her stashed clothing more than once because she hadn't exactly stowed them in the best hiding spots when she had pulled those stunts, but really, who _wouldn't_ do exactly that if they could turn invisible?

And it would totally drive Brian nuts once she got around to telling him about it, which was an added bonus. Not that she understood what the big deal was, since Narwhale, one of the big heroes up in Canada, went around naked all the time under her forcefields anyway and nobody ever gave her flack over it as far as she could tell.

She was totally going to call herself Black Arachnia once she finally made her big Brockton Bay debut! Both spider themed _and_ already her PHO account name (selected in honor of the coolest Transformer ever, in _any_ version of the show).

Still, too stiff or not, she wasn't about to redo the whole thing from scratch at this point. Her costume, consisting of mostly black _everything_ , from boots to mask, was pretty much ready. All she had to do was get the stupid airsoft pistol she had stolen adjusted so that it could actually launch her impact webbing without setting the finicky things off again.

Hmmm... Maybe she should go out and get some glow in the dark paint to paint over the spider with while she was waiting for the ball of webbing to dissolve and free her glove and pistol?

Yeah, and maybe some spikes to add to her bracers and shin guards while she was at it! That would be cool. And a leather jacket option!

Oh, so many things to pick up, and no need to pay for any of it thanks to the power of invisible discount shopping...

* * *

Greg's grand costume was done on the cheep, consisting mainly of some sports gear, a red baclava with a spiderweb print, and a red, black, and blue hoodie he had added black webbing and a front and back giant white spider logo to.

Hey, it sort of matched the costume ideas that had come to him while he was sick, so he considered it to be good enough for his purposes. Besides, given his increased strength, jumping ability, and how he could now crawl across walls and ceilings, it fit the general theme of his powers as far as he could tell.

He also had some ideas for some sort of web formula and some obviously Tinkertech devices to use it with, but he wasn't even going to try making any of it until _after_ he had established his reputation as a hero. Mostly because he didn't want to be known as a chemical Tinker in the same town the Merchants were in.

He didn't see the need to write down any notes. As a Tinker, he was sure everything would come to him once he actually _needed_ the formulas and designs.

The one bit of Tinkertech he _was_ building was the four armed waldo harness idea that had come to him, because it was just too damn cool not to use! It was maybe a quarter of the way done already, built from parts he had salvaged and scrounged up from the junkyard and various abandoned properties, and if he could get it to work right it would effectively make him his own three person team. Sort of.

Now if only he could think of a cool enough name...

Bug Man? The Human Arachnoid? Spider-Guy? The Brazilian?

So many good choices! How was he ever going to decide!?

* * *

"Thanks for helping me with the auto-emote lens frames for my helmet, Armsmaster."

"It was an interesting project, Webb, even if I do not really see an actual need for them."

"I had to do _something_ in order to get the PR department to stop hassling me about my wanting to use a full helmet. I gotta have _some_ way for the public to be able to relate to me after all. Not that I disagree completely, mind you, but I've kind of gotten used to full PRT field armor and like the idea of being generally damage resistant even with my increased ability to dodge."

"Did Director Piggot inform you of your debut date?"

"Next month, once they're sure that I'm clear of any Master influences from the Alchemax spider. I'm not even allowed to really build any of my Tinkertech without authorized supervision yet, which is why I asked you for help with the eye piece design I had."

"If you've made it this far, I'm sure you'll get cleared once the mandatory observation period is over with. I've seen no signs of your being mastered myself, and from what I understand, your friends Brock and Osborn have stated repeatedly that neither of them have noticed any undue changes in your personality."

"Thanks. Well, it looked like the actuators are working properly, so all we need to do now is test to see if it translates my facial expressions well enough."

"Proceed with test one..."


	4. Chapter 3

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

"WHOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Webswinging was thrilling, exhilarating, moderately terrifying, and the most fun Taylor... (Arachne!) had had in years!

Oh sure, there were a few false starts (as evidenced by the full body impact dent in one billboard), and one of her webfluid cartridges had run dry right at the terminal apex of one of her swings (fortunately, her other webshooter still had enough of a charge to allow her to redirect herself to a nearby wall so she could swap cartridges), but she thought her first patrol was going rather well.

She had even stopped a few muggings she had spotted via her new allies!

An ability she was totally never going to tell anyone about. Ever. Not even _after_ she eventually revealed that she could control spiders. Not that she didn't like that aspect of her power set, but perceiving everything through the senses of literally millions of spiders in a blocks wide radius all around her was just the sort of ace-in-the-hole ability you just didn't give away for no good reason. Especially since she was still figuring out how to interpret it all. Heck, she was even going to put off letting anyone know that she could _control_ her tiny minions as long as possible, given that her other abilities were more than suitable enough for direct superhero work. A nice utility power to have on the side, but covering people in spiders, even if they were the bad guys, would probably wreck the heroic rep she was trying to build for herself.

One of those "muggings" had turned out to be an impromptu semi-public make-out session that Arachne had almost interrupted before she had realized that both parties were very obviously consenting adults.

Very consenting adults.

Very...

Good God, people! It was the middle of fucking God damned January in New England! Take it inside, dammit!

They were still going at it by the time Arachne left her perception range for those particular spidery witnesses.

Oh, her poor poor innocent spider friends…

* * *

"Junk, junk, garbage, crapola… Oh, come on! I know this stupid shop has to keep their decent stuff somewhere!" Black Arachnia (Oh yeah! Black Arachnia ~ Spiders in Disguise!) grumbled to herself as she rooted through the stock of the airsoft gun shop. Invisibly, of course, because fuck security cameras. "Ah, here we go! Tools, cartridges, and compressors! Now let's see what would go best with what I got... Why, hello there Mr. floor safe! Didn't see you there! Okay, let's do this!"

Bracing one hand on the floor next to the safe, she pressed her other hand on the door of the safe, concentrated on the sticky-sticky thing, and pulled...

After a moment's strain, the whole thing ripped right out of the floor!

"Okay, time to book! There's no way that didn't set off any alarms. I'll just grab... Dammit!" Super strength or not, there was no way she'd be able to run off with both the safe and what she had originally broke in to this particular shop to steal! Especially since she hadn't even set any of it aside before getting distracted by the nice shiny floor safe!

Screw it, there had to be other paintball shops in town. The safe was probably loaded with cash, so that's what she was going to take.

"Yoink! Woo woo woo woo woo!"

Heh... And Brian thought the old timey shows that dad liked to watch were boring!

* * *

"There's no need to fear, Spider-Guy is here!" Greg declared in his best superhero voice as he jumped in and pulled the rapist off of the victim.

And then proceeded to dodge wildly as said half-naked victim tried to attack him for some reason! "Let him go you jerk! We were just making out!"

Greg dropped the guy abruptly. "Whups, sorry, my bad! Didn't mean to be a clockblocker! I mean cockblocker, dude! Uh... still, outside in a dark alley? In the middle of _January?"_

"WILL YOU GO THE FUCK AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE ALREADY!?"

* * *

"I have to go," Armsmaster told Webb. "Apparently somebody broke into an airsoft store and ripped the safe out of the floor. They want me to look at the scene along with Brock and Osborn."

"I understand. I'll just head back to my quarters since I can't do anything else here tonight. See you later."

February couldn't come soon enough for Parker...

* * *

"You guys _do_ realize that..."

Arachne's opening dialogue was interrupted by a wild spray of gunfire that she had _somehow_ managed to completely dodge.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! Aaaaaaand thwip!

"Holy fuck! Twitchy much?" Arachne complained after disarming everyone with some spur of the moment webshooting. She then quickly moved to step into the group, seizing the items they had been exchanging and webbing them to the alley wall for the police to recover later as evidence.

"CAPE!"

"Wow. You must be the smart one. Or the dumb one. I'm just going to call you Captain Obvious now."

One of the thugs now behind her tried to stab her with a knife.

The key word being tried.

"Yeah, don't do that," Arachne commented as she adroitly turned to catch the blade in her fingers, stopping the thrust so suddenly that the guy looked like he sprained his wrist. "It never turns out well."

Without looking, she webbed up the other guys behind her as they tried to run away.

"Now _you_ look like a guy who owns a cellphone... yep, here it is!" And just web up the last guy and dial 911...

"Yeah, Arachne here again. I just webbed up a drug deal in progress in the back alley between... Hold on, let me check the street signs..."

All in all, it was a good first night.

Later, when she had time to think about it, Arachne experienced a bad case of the shakes before pushing the belated terror out of her and continuing on as if she had always known she was fast enough to dodge bullets. As opposed to finding out in the middle of her first group bust.

"I _really_ need to figure out what I can do…"

* * *

"GODDAMMIT!" Black Arachnia threw the empty safe as hard as she could, huffing angrily as she watched it arc high into the air. "Who the fuck has a floor safe in their shop and doesn't put a damn thing in it!?"

A moment later, the safe came crashing down on top of a car the next block over, setting off it's car alarm.

"Screw it. The impact webbing probably dissolved by now. I'm going back to work on my gun..."


	5. Chapter 4

**Arachne** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

Taylor started pulling off her costume after shutting the window and drawing the curtains closed. Given how her hair felt, she took a sniff of her mask before tossing it flawlessly into her hamper as she deftly stepped around her bed and hit the light switch by her door. Some adjustments were going to have to be made. Maybe another layer or two of thermals so she wouldn't have to work up a sweat to keep warm while on patrol. And next time she was going to try wearing her hair _between_ layers instead of letting it rest next to her skin under her thermals.

Oh, and she was definitely going to either make or invest in a better sports top, because the one she had worn under her costume tonight just wasn't going to cut it.

Huh... Almost all of the webfluid cartridges she had taken with her last night were totally spent. She was going to recharge them all anyway, of course, but it might be a good idea to make and prepare some more before going out on patrol again. Which was another expense to keep track of. Sure, the stuff was cheap to make, but she didn't want to go through the household supplies she used to do so too fast either, or dad would start to notice. Sooner or later. Maybe.

Grabbing her bathrobe and shrugging it on, Taylor headed for the bathroom to take a hot shower before actually going to bed, glad that her father tended to be a fairly sound sleeper.

Speaking of sleep, she intended to sleep in that morning since it was Saturday. Which was another reason she had decided to go out on her first patrol last night rather than the night before.

* * *

Black Arachnia slipped back into the window of her bedroom at her father's apartment, stripped off her costume, dropping it on the floor with the rest of her dirty laundry, and flopped bonelessly across her bed.

A moment later, Aisha got up, trudged over to the window, and shut it firmly before returning to bed and curling up in the covers to get rid of the winter chill.

The night, in her opinion, had mostly been a bust.

Still, she had finally gotten her web pistol to fire at least three shots in a row before it misfired again, so that was something.

* * *

"Thanks again, young man."

"No problem, sir! Glad to help!" Greg grinned under his mask as he lifted the spare tire into place with one hand and set each nut into place before tightening them.

"Mind if I ask what you're calling yourself? You know, so I can tell my grandkids that I met the new hero in town?"

"Not at all, sir. I am Spider-Guy, the Human Arachnoid!"

"That's quite a mouthful."

"Well, it's a work in progress. I was also thinking of calling myself Wolf Spider."

"I wouldn't recommend that in this town, son. Stick with Spider-Guy. That's a name that'll go places. Trust me."

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

Placing the damaged tire in the trunk of the car, Greg watched in satisfaction as the old man drove away.

Two _actual_ muggings stopped (after the first, rather embarrassing, misunderstanding), and now a bit of roadside assistance. Not to toot his own horn (too much) but not too shabby for his first night out.

What the hell, he still felt wide awake, and it wasn't like he had to go to school in the morning. May as well continue his patrol!

* * *

Parker set aside his mechanical pencil, shut his notepad, and yawned as he got up from the writing desk in the M/S observation cell that he was currently residing in whenever he wasn't being escorted by someone. Just another few weeks of putting up with this shit before they relieved the restrictions, then he'd be making his big public debut as Webb.

Hopefully with his fully armored costume approved for use by then.

Ah well, at least he'd be getting a decent head start on his gear before he hit the streets. Nothing like having a Tinker lab and budget right out the gate. Granted, most of it seemed to be variations of webfluid and how to dispense it, barely even qualifying as Tinkertech considering that it was all reproducible without his input as long as whoever did so understood what they were doing.

Hell, the _one_ thing he had designed so far that qualified hands down as pure Tinkertech right off the bat were the adhesion tires he had come up with, as he was the only one who seemed to understand how to get them to work properly. Sort of. There were still a few kinks to work out before the failure rate dropped to acceptable levels, but he was sure that he'd be ready to produce a finished working set of tires by the time the weather warmed up and the Spidermobile that PR virtually demanded he design once he had floated the idea to them was completed.

Heh. He had always wanted a supercar ever since he had watched Speed Racer and Knight Rider while growing up.

Anyway, time for bed.

* * *

Taylor slept late into the morning, comfortably bundled in cozy flannel pajamas, clean blankets, and a comforter.

* * *

Aisha woke up to pounding on her bedroom door. "What? What? I'm up!"

"I'm just letting you know that you're going to be on your own for breakfast and maybe lunch," her father called through the door. "Somebody dropped a safe on my car last night, and I'm riding with the tow truck to the autobody shop. I'd have woken you up earlier, but I didn't want you underfoot while the insurance people, police, and PRT were all taking pictures."

Crap, that had been her _dad's_ car!?

* * *

The sun had already been up for just a bit once Greg finally snuck back into the house.

Fortunately his folks always slept in on the weekends.

Dumping a can of soup in a measuring cup and setting it to heat up in the microwave, he briefly went to his room to remove the recognizable portions of his costume before returning to the kitchen.

The rest of the night had pretty much been a bust, but he was mostly happy with the first part.

Greg Veder fell asleep at the kitchen table, his soup barely even half finished.


	6. Chapter 5

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

"Did you have a good sleep?" Taylor heard her dad ask as she carried her hamper downstairs. She was still wearing her flannel pajamas, not seeing the need to get dressed quite yet on a Saturday with no plans. Now that she was awake, she was already directing her tiny minions in the basement to resume their work on what would eventually be her main costume. She really should see about finding somewhere within easy access where she could gather more of her small allies so that she could perhaps speed up production times.

"It was alright, I guess." she replied, heading through the kitchen into the small backroom, where the washer and drier were located. She _thought_ is was called a mud room, but she wasn't sure. She idly thought about maybe calling Bobbie to see if she wanted to go see either Tangled or How to Train Your Dragon later, in which case she would get dressed sooner rather than later, but for now she intended to work on ideas in her hero notebook until her laundry was done.

No need to risk outing herself to her father just because he might see her costume if he decided to do her a favor by finishing her laundry for her, right?

* * *

Aisha picked her costume up off the floor and sniffed it. "Eh, not too bad yet, I guess." she commented to herself. Not that she could put it in the wash anyway because of the leather spider she had sewn on to it. Maybe it was time to hunt down Brian and ask him how he took care of his leathers?

Or she could go out as Black Arachnia and have some fun. Maybe even show herself instead of staying invisible now that she actually _had_ a costume to show off.

Aisha's stomach grumbled audibly.

But first, breakfast! That was the most important meal in a young supervillain's day, right?

* * *

Greg woke to someone shaking his shoulders, and blinked groggily at his mother who was looking at him with a concerned expression. "If you're this tired, Greg, you should go back to bed. You don't want to get sick again, do you?"

"Alrigh…" Greg half-spoke, breaking out into a huge yawn before standing up. Gulping down the remainder of his now cold soup, he set the measuring cup in the sink and went up to his bedroom. Double checking to make sure that his costume was safely stowed away and hidden (in a box in the corner of his closet), he took a whiff of himself and decided to take a shower before actually getting into his bed.

* * *

Webb entered the meeting room, picked a seat, and sat down at the table, Eddy and Harry taking spots behind him as his PRT escort (selected because they knew him best and presumably would know when his behavior deviated enough for them to confoam him). Director Piggot sat at the head of the table, the rest of what would be his new teammates in the Protectorate ENE (come next month, if everything went well) took up most of the other seats, plus Triumph as the current leader of the local Wards.

Nobody was glaring at him, Assault was grinning like a loon, and Triumph was looking at him curiously. Most likely because this would be the first time he'd ever even been in the same room as Webb. So, all in all, he counted it as a good sign and decided that, at the very least, he himself wasn't in trouble.

"Now that everyone is here," Piggot began, "let's begin. Armsmaster, if you would?"

Armsmaster stood up (Webb had found out from Assault that Armsmaster had, at one point, reinforced _every_ chair in the meeting rooms of both this building and the Rig to be able to handle exceptionally heavy loads) and moved to stand beside the presentation screen, where three images appeared side by side. The first was of a female parahuman of indeterminate age in a well put together full body costume (mostly black and white with red accents and some blue web detailing). The middle picture showed a lanky kid, presumably in his mid to late teens, wearing what looked like a thrown together costume consisting of sports gear and a custom hoodie (Over all, mostly red and black, with blue accents and a _huge_ white spider icon taking up most of the front of the hoodie). And the last picture, looking like it came from some sort of security footage, showed what appeared to be a wall or floor safe floating in mid air in the middle of what looked like either a gun shop or sporting goods store.

"Last night marks the debut of two more parahumans becoming active in Brockton Bay," Armsmaster stated. The screen changed to show several images of the female in black and white, as well as several different people (and things) stuck to the ground or walls in something that looked an awful lot like Webb's own webbing. "Arachne, operating from roughly twenty-three hundred to oh-three hundred, covering a wide area and reportedly stopping five muggings, three drug deals, and one break in. It should be noted that while Arachne did call in each of these incidents, she did so from a different phone each time, either that of a victim she had rescued or one belonging to a perpetrator she had captured. There is no indication that she applied excessive force during any of these incidents, and in each case in which she deployed her webbing, it was reported to dissolve on it's own in about an hour."

"Just like my formulas," Webb commented, cocking an eyebrow, which he was sure was mirrored on one of the lenses of the test helmet he was wearing.

"Indeed," was all Armsmaster said on the subject for now, although Webb was sure that it would be brought up again later in the briefing.

The screen changed again to show several images of the male teen parahuman, who was obviously posing for the camera. "This one, tentatively referred to as Spider-Guy in the reports before you, is thought to have been active from roughly oh-zero hundred, with incidents reported about him until the late into the dawn hours. He has been reported to have stopped two muggings, performed roadside assistance five separate times, and stopped in to purchase hot chocolate and beef sticks in two different all night convenience stores. Like Arachne, their is no indication that excessive force was used at any time. There is, however, no evidence that he has any sort of webbing at this time, despite his choice of costume colors and obvious spider theme."

"Spider-Guy?" Assault prompted with a chuckle. "What, he couldn't think of a name?"

"On the contrary, he has apparently thought of several names, and has yet to decide between them. Among them are Spider-Boy, Spider-Guy, Kid Spider, Wolf Spider, the Brazilian, and the Human Arachnoid."

"The Brazilian? Sounds painful," Assault quipped, earning an elbow to his side from Battery.

"Well, the bite of the Brazilian wandering spider _is_ reputed to be quite painful," Webb added drily.

Armsmaster continued as the screen changed to show the safe again, as well as several other images of apparently floating objects, and boot prints, both in what appeared to be the snow outside of a smashed out store front and along an outside wall heading upwards at an angle for an improbable distance. "This subject, who is believed to be the same one who had first became active on the sixth and has until now been tentatively referred to as Poltergeist, is now being referred to as Ghost Spider as he or she has now demonstrated traits similar to those of the other three spider themed parahumans currently known to be in Brockton Bay: Arachne, Spider-Guy, and Webb."

"I note that only Arachne had any pictures involving any sort of webbing, so I'm assuming you mean enhanced strength and wallcrawling?" Webb asked.

"Correct," Armsmaster confirmed. "It is believed that both Spider-Guy and Ghost Spider had been students present at Winslow High School during the incident on the third, while Arachne herself could be either a student or faculty member present at the time, or perhaps bitten by a different Alchemax spider in a separate, unreported incident."

"So our invisible pranking thief gave finally left enough clues to narrow down the age range?" Assault asked, prompting Armsmaster to change the image on the screen again to show several pictures taken from various store and business security cameras across Brockton Bay. Some depicted apparently floating objects, but _all_ of them depicted a hazy, vaguely humanoid blur, similar to the personal cloaking special effects depicted in several movies and television shows.

"The subject has been determined to be roughly the size of a person in his or her early to mid teens, or a short adult," Armsmaster stated. "It is mostly the timing of her becoming active potentially tying her to the Alchemax incident that implies the youth of the subject, as none of the faculty at Winslow were that short. The cloaking effect, however it is accomplished, apparently becomes less effective whenever Ghost Spider moves too fast, causing the blurring effect shown in these pictures."

* * *

"Hey, Dad, I'm heading out to the library!" Taylor (having _finally_ gotten dressed), called out as she headed for the front door. "I want to check a few things online."

"Hold on," Danny replied, "Let me get my coat and I'll drive you there."

"Okay?"

"Also, I was thinking that maybe it was time we did some shopping. I was thinking of getting a new computer for myself, as well as getting a decent internet connection. And how would you like a laptop as a late Christmas gift?"

"Um, wow! That'd be great! What brought this on?"

"The settlement check just came in the mail. A lot of it is going to your college fund, but I think we can afford to splurge a little."

"Okay!"

* * *

Greg's mother checked in on him, only to find him still sleeping spread awkwardly across his bed in a tangle of sheets and limbs. She then returned downstairs to the living room.

"He alright?" Mr. Veder asked his wife as she sat down.

"He's fine. Probably stayed up all night again playing that silly game of his."

"Well, as long as he doesn't do it when he has school the next day."

* * *

Black Arachnia couldn't stop grinning under her mask as she invisibly followed her brother, having changed her plans when she spotted him earlier. She was _finally_ going to find out where Brian hung out and who his peeps were. All she had to do was follow him as he made way to wherever his secret lair turned out to be. Easy peasy lemon squeezey! With her powers, he'd never know she was there!

Oh, he was approaching a building! It looked like either a factory or warehouse, and had the name Redmond welding on the sign. Now to carefully slip inside before the door shuts...

Woah! No shit? A supervillain gang!?

"Yo, bro! Where do I sign up for this supervill gig!"

"AISHA!?" Brian Laborn could only stare up in shock at his little sister, who was standing upside down from one of the crossbeams of the Undersider's lair, wearing a mostly black costume with spikes, large white eye spots that she could presumably see through, and a huge-ass white spider logo which seemed to glow in the dim light.

Lisa seemed to be equally surprised (for a change), Rachel was shouting, and Alec, asshole that he was, wasn't any help as he was laughing his ass off.

"Not cool, Brian! You didn't introduce me to your friends yet! And I'm Black Arachnia!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"You are _not_ naming yourself after a Transformer!"

"The hell I ain't!"

Lisa's shock transitioned to a wide grin as Rachel grew quiet at the realization that the intruder was apparently Brian's little sister (and thus _technically_ part of the pack already), and Alec rolled off the couch, still laughing.


	7. Chapter 6

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

Sunday was a pretty quiet day for Taylor, which she spent recharging her webfluid cartridges, crafting several new ones, and charging those as well. And then getting online on her (her very own!) new laptop that she herself had selected the previous day and looking up ways that she might be able to do to make producing her Tinkertech ideas easier (or at least cheaper) for herself.

All the while taking advantage of the fact that she was home all day to have her little buddies continue their work on her main costume in the basement, with her spent allies reassigned to either hunting as groups to bring back useful nutrients for her weaving crew, or inspection teams going over the work already done to make sure that there were no flaws. The net result was a house that was rapidly becoming distressingly short of potential prey for her friends, but on the plus side, her main costume was all but done except for the dye job. _Including_ the additional thin underlayers she had thought of yesterday morning. With their job finished, it was time to let her colony of little helpers go and spread out back into the neighborhood as best they could so that they didn't starve in the now currently pest free home (Seriously, she was so proud of the little guys! They had even eliminated all the mice!).

At the moment, all that remained of her production colony were a few stragglers who had chosen to stay and tough out the barren hunting conditions until the pests returned (so loyal!), and some egg sacks that would hatch once the weather warmed up again.

Ooh... This looked promising!

Oscorp was considered to be one of the industry leaders in reverse engineering Tinkertech! While they might not have nearly as high a success rate at doing so as Dragon (Really, who did?), they performed remarkably well with low end Tinker technology, and were apparently known to be accommodating with independent Tinkers. If she offered up some of her safer formulas and designs for them to patent, test, and market, she'd have access to industry grade labs and supplies! And she wouldn't have to put up with the restrictions of the Wards program the Protectorate ran (okay, their authorized Tinker budgets may be bigger on average than the industry standard, but she'd be nowhere near as effective as she was during her first patrol if she had to follow the Wards regulations that she knew of since looking them up). Honestly, she didn't need a lot, and most of what she could produce could be done cheaply with the right resources, so hooking up with a company like Oscorp seemed to be the way to go forward at this point.

Best of all, they had a headquarters right in Brockton Bay, unlike their closest comparable competitor, Stark Industries, whose closest headquarters was located in Boston.

* * *

"THAT FUCKING BITCH TOOK MY NAME!" Aisha screamed as she took the Sunday printing of the Brockton Bay Bugle from Lisa's hands and stared at the picture of Arachne in action.

"I was still reading that," Lisa commented, taking a sip of her coffee. "And she didn't take your name."

"The fuck she didn't! I was active first!"

"To be fair, Aisha..." Brian started in the amused tone of an older brother watching his little sister rage over something he himself considered to be inconsequential.

"FUCK FAIR!"

"To be fair," Brian continued more firmly, "Arachne is _not_ the same as Arachnia. _And_ she got her name out there first."

"No she didn't! Black Arachnia has been my PHO account name for years! So I had _my_ name out there first!"

"Her's is a mythological reference, while yours is a Transformer," Lisa pointed out with a slight smirk as she waited for her paper to be returned.

"Mine is the most awesome Transformer ever! Get it right!"

"You could always mess with her by dressing up in an evil twin version of her costume," Regent pointed out, happy to add fuel to the proverbial fire.

"Now we're talking!" Aisha cheered up, finally setting the paper back down. "Now what to make it out of..."

"I'll call the boss," Lisa offered as she took her paper back. "This sounds like something he'd like to get behind, and he'd definitely be able to commission a costume for you."

"You do that. I got an idea for a different type of web gun I want to work on now. Bitch wants to swing like Tarzan? I'll show her who the _real_ swinger is!"

* * *

Spider-Guy was out and about putting in some daylight facetime doing the hero thing. Dressed a little warmer this time to be sure, but he still had the hoodie on over his winter jacket to show the flag (as it were).

Apparently another spider themed hero, Arachne, had also made her debut Friday night. And she'd even managed to stop more crime than he had while she was at it. Which, he supposed was okay, as being a hero _wasn't_ a competition. Or at least it wasn't _supposed_ to be according to most of the verified heroes that had posted on PHO. Crime stopped was crime stopped, regardless of who saved the day, right?

"Excuse me, young man, but do you happen to know where a restaurant by the name of Marcell's is? I'm sure I followed my Daughter-in-Law's directions, but I can't seem to find it anywhere."

"Oh, sure," Spider-Guy replied. "You're almost there, ma'am. It's half a block down, right across the street. Here, allow me to escort you..."

Eh, he was sure that he'd find crime to thwart eventually…

* * *

Parker doubled down on preparations, getting as much time in his assigned Tinker lab as he could get away with.

He wasn't jealous of Arachne and Spider-Guy already being active heroes while he was stuck in M/S observation really (technically, it wouldn't be jealousy anyway - it would be envy). No, he wasn't jealous. Annoyed, perhaps, but hardly jealous. It was good that the two were doing the hero thing.

Ghost Spider, on the other hand, was going to be a problem. One he was sure he could help solve, since he essentially had nothing _but_ time while Armsmaster had to actually do the leader thing as well as go on patrols and take mandatory breaks (because, seriously, the man was a noted workaholic who had to be _ordered_ to get enough rest). According to the Thinkers, Ghost Spider _seemed_ to have the same basic powers Arachnia, Spider-Guy, and he himself did, barring the webs Arachne used (which were _probably_ Tinkertech) and Ghost Spider's cloaking (which _might_ be Tinkertech).

It wasn't a perfect cloak, as apparently moving too fast caused visible distortions even in low quality security footage, so Parker felt that he could come up with something that could be installed in his and Armsmaster's helmets that would allow them to 'see' the villain. Maybe something acoustic based that could be translated into a visual readout?

Yeah, that seemed doable. And he'd see if he could incorporate Armsmaster's thermal scanner design into his own helmet while he was at it, just to cover his bases.

Oh, and apparently Armsmaster wanted to schedule some more sparring blocks so that he could test his predictive combat algorithms against a high end combat thinker.

Sure, why not? In fact...

Parker set aside his notepad, opened up his own assigned laptop and began to type rapidly as ideas about predictive software began to flow.

"Tinker fugue?" Brock asked rhetorically.

"Tinker fugue," Osborn confirmed. "Hope it's something good this time."

"I dunno. He came up with a damn good recipe for an artificial chocolate malt last time," Brock said with a grin. "Healthy, nutritious, _and_ good tasting even! I hear Vista loves them."

"You didn't hear it from me, but I heard that Piggot likes them too," Osborn commented as the two watched their friend type faster and faster...


	8. Chapter 7

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

"Hey! Tay Tay! Over here!" Taylor heard Bobbie calling to her as she got off the bus at Arcadia. Her new friend was waving her over, and standing next to her was an unfamiliar boy. "Tay Tay, meet Richie! His family moved up from New York over the summer when his dad retired. He's former Winslow like us, but he hadn't been part of any of the nonsense. What do you say to another study buddy in our Arcknights club?"

"We're the Arcknights now?" Taylor asked Bobbie, bemused over yet another name for their two person endeavor to get their grade point average to stay high enough to actually stay in Arcadia if Winslow ever opened again. Other names Bobbie had come up with so far had been, in order: The Arcadians (already taken by an existing school club); Libram Noir; Excelsior; the Knights of Arcadia; and Taylor's personal favorite to date, the Undead Poet Society. Anyway, whoever Richie was, Taylor didn't remember him ever picking on her, so if Bobbie liked him, she was willing to give him a chance.

The fact that he was pleasantly handsom had no part to play in this decision.

Really.

"Taylor Hebert," she introduced herself.

"Richard Fisk." Ooh... nice voice too!

"Anyway, Tay Tay, Richie here was just telling me that he had seen how hard we were studying, and he was wondering if he could join us. His dad apparently signed him up for Arcadia originally, but the paperwork got held up somehow and didn't get filed in time before the school year started, which is how he ended up in Winslow."

"Yes, Dad was not happy with this turn of events," Rich stated. "He was even less happy to find out what kind of hellhole Winslow turned out to be."

"But by then you were in their clutches and the faculty dragged their heels whenever the subject of transferring out came up, right?" Taylor guessed dryly, remembering her own problems with Principle Blackwell and her secretary.

"Yes, exactly," Rich agreed. "Dad is very much involved in the ongoing lawsuit against Winslow due to their gross negligence, general incompetence, and being unfit to teach rats in the sewer, let alone children. His words, not mine."

"He's not exactly wrong though," Taylor pointed out. "Although some of the teachers were okay..."

"Name one," Bobbie challenged.

"Miss Knott."

"I didn't have her," Bobbie shrugged.

"I had her after lunch," Rich offered. "I agree. She, at least, was okay."

At that point, the first bell rang, and the three entered Arcadia and dispersed towards their respective homerooms.

* * *

Aisha decided that Clarendon High was okay. Not great (what school was, really?), but certainly better than Winslow had been. The teachers were more... what was the word? Engaged, that was it. The teachers were more engaged, the rooms and halls were cleaner, and the gangs less in your face about what they were since the school dress code was actually enforced.

And still somehow as boring as hell, except for her new interest in math and science.

Why the fuck was she interested in math and science all of the sudden!? It just wasn't natural!

Well, at least they gave her a better understanding about how to pull off some of her ideas.

She idly doodled a sketch depicting herself as Black Arachnia, using a sort of underarm web membrane to glide, with a new pistol that shot out a line. Surrounding this doodle were several chemical formulas and calculations describing how to actually pull it off.

* * *

"You're in my seat, Veder."

"Wasn't your seat over there, Flash?" Greg sighed. Awesome super powers, and still somehow on the shit list of whatever jocks were around.

"That was last week."

"Whatever." Greg didn't get up, knowing that Mr. Robinson would stop Flash from going too far. Clarendon wasn't Winslow after all.

Greg cocked a brow as Madison Clements came into the room. He hadn't been aware she had been assigned to the same school as he was. He guessed that her suspension must be over since he hadn't seen her at all since Winslow closed.

"This isn't over, Veder!" Flash stated, before moving to sit at another desk. Which happened to be the exact same one he had sat in for the previous couple of weeks. Greg just did not understand whatever it was that happened to be going through the jock's head.

Ah well, it wasn't like he couldn't just avoid the guy. Greg wondered just what he had done to piss the jock off?

Flash, for his part, was furious that the new kid from Winslow (WINSLOW of all places!) was wrecking the grade curve in the classes _he_ needed to pass in order to be able to stay on the team! Coach Grady wasn't one to let the jocks get an easy ride just because they could play well.

* * *

Webb bobbed and weaved, ducking, dodging, and otherwise avoiding nearly every strike Armsmaster made during their spar.

These sessions had thus far been a rather interesting study of experience verses power induced ability, with the balance shifting back and forth in favor between the two over the past few weeks. At first, Armsmaster had dominated their matches, then Webb as he got used to his powers, then Armsmaster again after he made some adjustments to either his technique or his armor, then Webb again and so on.

It was honestly one of the few times Webb had ever seen Armsmaster smiling, let alone grinning. The man apparently _lived_ for self-improvement.

Webb supposed the fact that he could engage in Tinker talk with him without getting lost also helped.

"And break," Armsmaster announced, calling an end to their spar. "Some good improvements over all, for both of us."

"I noticed that you were having an easier time trying to hit me again. Did my new prediction algorithm help?"

"That one was still mine, actually," Armsmaster stated with a smirk. "Although I did have a quick look at what you had come up with. Looks promising, and I may end up incorporating it later once I'm done checking it over. Although I _thought_ you were planning on how to counter Ghost Spider's cloaking ability."

"Uh... Yeah. I kinda got distracted."

"It happens. In time, you'll learn how to direct your Tinker fugues better so as to stay on the task at hand."


	9. Chapter 8

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

Taylor was still getting used to eating in a cafeteria again. It was... nice. To not have to live in fear of being harassed or bullied that is, even if she was still slightly unnerved by the experience. It helped that Bobbie would come to sit with her once she had gone through the lunch line, but those first few minutes until she arrived still left Taylor feeling... skittish. As had quickly become her habit, she had chosen to sit at a mostly unoccupied table apparently not chosen by any of the current cliques, and had placed her bookbag on one of the seats beside her, with one of her homework assignments from the morning classes in front of her as she ate the packed lunch she brought from home.

PB&J this time (strawberry jelly), lightly toasted and diagonally cut, because a girl couldn't live on wraps alone.

"May I sit here?" a boy asked, causing her to jump slightly.

"Uh, sure! Hi, Rich." Taylor relaxed, not feeling the odd tingling sensation in her mind that she had come to associate with threat detection.

Rich set his tray down across the table and took the seat beside where Bobbie usually sat. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"That's okay."

"Hey, Tay Tay, Richie!" Roberta greeted as she set her tray down and slid into the seat next to Taylor. As opposed to across from her, as she had done previously. "Tay Tay, you should totally buy lunch here tomorrow! It's tacos again! Can you believe it? Taco Tuesday is really a thing here! And they're sooooo gooood! Not at all like the disguised mystery meatloaf Winslow tries to pass off as, well, everything!"

"Roberta, please, no reminders," Rich protested. "Some of us are trying to eat."

"I'll try the cafeteria food _here_ , if you promise to stop bringing up the cafeteria food _there_ ," Taylor offered.

"You will not regret it, Tay Tay. Seriously, they really do make a good taco here. Almost as good as what Daddy makes at home when he's in the mood. I'll have to see if I can invite you guys over next time Daddy feels like making them again!"

* * *

Aisha had yet to try any of the cafeteria food at Clarendon, since it was so easy for her to slip out and grab a bite off grounds while invisible without having to waste her lunch money. Sure, Brian probably wouldn't approve, but there wasn't much he could actually do about it, was there?

Now where to eat this time?

Without really thinking about it, Aisha reached out and tugged on the back of some guy's coat as he was having a pointless argument with somebody over his cell phone, preventing him from stepping out onto the street just as a car sped by. The man looked around in confusion, wondering who had just saved his life.

Half a block later, Aisha stepped into an unoccupied alley, dropped her invisibility, and checked the wallet and the wad of bills she just lifted. "Looks like lunch is on you today, Mr. Osborn. Huh... I wonder if he's related to that old singer?"

* * *

Greg bit into his hotdog, enjoying the pleasant fact that it wasn't tinted green or grey, nor did it deflate or taste like anything a hotdog shouldn't. Not that all the cafeteria food back at Winslow was bad, really. Or at least not as bad as everyone made it out to be. You just couldn't trust the hot dogs. Or the pizza. Or the Salisbury steak. Or the meatloaf. Or...

You know what? Maybe Winslow's cafeteria food deserved its bad reputation after all.

* * *

"Hey, Pete?"

"It's Webb while I'm wearing the mask, Harry. You know that."

"Sorry," Osborn apologized quickly. Normally he wouldn't make that mistake (but then again, normally he wouldn't be able to - Parker was the first hero he actually knew the identity of).

"Now what did you need?"

"Have you made any progress on how to get past Ghost Spider's cloaking power?"

"I have some ideas, but we won't really know if they work until they're actually tested against Ghost Spider. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm pretty sure the little creep picked my pockets while I was out on the burger run. Got my wallet _and_ the money everyone gave me for their orders!"

"Ouch! You sure it was Ghost Spider?"

"Unless Oni Lee has taken to pop-n-go pickpocketing while stopping people from getting hit by cars, yes."

"Let me guess: You're dad saw you walking down the street from his office and decided to try to talk you into accepting that position at Oscorp again."

"Yeah. He's still mad I chose to follow you into the PRT back when Gwen..."

"Please don't bring that up again. I love my wife more than anything, and couldn't imagine marrying anyone else now, but it still hurts to think about how Gwen died to that lunatic."

"Speaking of Mary Jane, she wanted me to let you know that she's going to be down in Boston for a fashion show. She should be back before your public debut."

"Okay."

"And to remind you once again that you'll be sleeping on the couch for getting yourself into M/S lockdown for being stupid."

"Harry..."

"Although she said she might just join you on the couch on your first night back if you stay here much longer. Remind me to sit somewhere else next time you guys have Liz and I over."

"Wouldn't help," Webb relpied, the auto-emote lenses forming 'smiley-eyes' to reflect the smug smirk he had under the helmet.

"One: Eww! Two: next time we're eating at my place."

* * *

After school let out, Taylor swung by her home to drop off her books and change into her costume.

Well, most of it anyway, as she left off the mask because she was just going to be putting her regular clothes right back on over top of it before grabbing the fanny pack she had prepared last night and a small plain backpack she used to use back in elementary school. Which should be just big enough for her to stash her civilian clothes in when she did the Superman thing later, once she figured she was far enough away from the house.

Dad wouldn't be getting home until well after regular business hours were over today, so it was the perfect time to take some of her Tinker notes (copies only, _not_ her actual hero journal!) to Oscorp as Arachne to see if she could make an arrangement for the use of one of their labs.

* * *

Aisha climbed halfway up the cinderblock wall to the little cubbies she had made way up and out of the way where nobody would be likely to see (let alone reach) them. Invisibly, of course. Partly so nobody would be able to see her stripping down and changing into her costume, but mostly because a fringe benefit of her no-see-um power apparently included not freezing to death while naked outside in the middle of January.

Honestly, after watching that weird couple do their kinky thing in various hiding spots, she was still wondering how they hell they hadn't frozen to death yet, no matter how active they had been. Not that is wasn't anything she hadn't seen her mom do with any of her stupid boyfriends back at her apartment, but at least they kept it inside.

Really, all Aisha had been looking for was a good place to stash her costume where her Dad couldn't find it and Brian couldn't (try to) tell her not to go out and mess around if he saw her with it on back at their supervillain lair. Well, and maybe some pimps or dealers to roll for cash. She definitely didn't want another peep sho…

"OH, COME ON! DON'T YOU TWO EVER STOP!? IT'S THE MIDDLE OF FUCKING GOD DAMNED JANUARY FOR FUCK'S SAKE! AND IN MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING DAY THIS TIME! WHEN THE HELL DO YOU TWO SLEEP!?"

The half dressed exhibitionist couple looked around wildly for whoever was yelling at them even as they ran off, attempting to carry what they had already stripped off of one another as best they could.

Black Arachnia dropped down from above and poked through the scattered articles that remained behind. "Didn't even leave any good drops, the jerks..."

* * *

Greg whistled absently as he worked on the waldo harness he was building from various parts he had scavenged here and there. Nothing anybody would miss, he was sure, since the properties were long since abandoned. The control interface was tricky to figure out, and he had finally had to resort to sketching out diagrams of how the circuit boards for the neuro-reading control interface showed actually be laid out. Mostly because without those notes to refer to, he had been having to either scrap or rebuild several such components he needed already.

"Okay, test number... whatever. Not like I'm actually keeping track of these," he mumbled to himself as he clipped the temporary interface receptors to the straps of his goggles and put them on. A moment later, the half finished arms of the waldo harness waved at him at his command.

"YES! Nailed it on the first try!" Greg stated triumphantly, ignoring all the previous failures.

That was how it worked, right?

* * *

"Okay, now if this works, we should be seeing an image of..."

"I know how a sonar works, Webb," the lab tech stated irritably. Sure, what Webb was making was most likely going to have a higher resolution than normally possible for an open air acoustic based system, but the general principles involved were already well understood. And he certainly didn't need to hear about it again for the fifth time running.

"Sorry, sorry! Used to teach science in a high school back in New York."

"And you shouldn't be telling me things like that either. I'm not your handler. Not only do I not _need_ to know - I don't _want_ to know."

* * *

Arachne dropped down in front of the main doors of Oscorp's Brockton Bay headquarters, landing in a perfect three point superhero crouch on her toes and the fingertips of her right hand before standing up and straightening out. Squaring her shoulders, she opened the door and walked in, approaching the reception kiosk.

"May I help you?" the receptionist asked (left hand hovering near the panic button hidden under the counter).

"Um..." Arachne's confidence seemed to flow out of her as her shoulders slouched and she poked her index fingers together. "I understand that Oscorp sometimes comes to arrangements with independent Tinkers?"

"Oh, sure!" the receptionist smiled, picking up the handset and already dialing a number from memory. "You're the first Tinker to come to us in Brockton Bay, so Mr. Osborn will want to speak with you right away!" After a short discussion over the phone, she hung up and continued. "Just sign in on the registry with your hero name, and here's a special visitor's pass that will allow access to the fourth floor labs. Mr. Osborn will be right down to meet you in lab three shortly. Just follow the signs."

"Thank you!"

And with that, Arachne headed for the elevators, feeling giddy about how right things were going for her.

Things were definitely looking up!

* * *

Sophia smirked grimly as she rested the juvenile hall infirmary. It had taken picking fights with the biggest, meanest bitches in here several times, but _finally_ one of them had managed to damage her special restraints enough for them not to shock her when she tested her powers while nobody was looking. Okay, so she had gotten her teeth rattled (and maybe a bit loosened), and she was sporting some decent bruises for her trouble, but she was as good as free now.

She wouldn't leave right away, of course. Better to wait until it was dark out so as to better take advantage of the stealth her powers gave her. Maybe bring Emma with her if she could figure out a way to do it, but if not it wasn't any big loss to leave her here.

But once she was on the streets again, Hebert was going to _pay_ for putting her back in Juvie. Clements too, for turning on them. And maybe a bunch of the other assholes back at Winslow while she was at it.

All Shadow Stalker had to do was hit a sports store and gear up again. And none of those stupid ass blunt bolts either - razor-head tips all the way! And lots of them. Maybe some good combat knives while she was at it...


	10. Interlude One: Norman Osborn

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tange** **nt**

"Fascinating. Utterly fascinating," Norman Osborn, C.E.O. of Oscorp, stated as he looked over the formulas and designs provided by one of Brockton Bay's newest heroes, Arachne.

The arrangement they had come to was fairly typical for Oscorp policy regarding new Tinkers with no known (well, _publicly_ known anyway) criminal tendencies: The use of a laboratory and a resource budget for supplies in exchange for the rights to study samples of anything actually produced in said lab. Any resulting patents were to be held in trust, either feeding unto a larger Tinker budget or, upon Oscorp signing nondisclosure papers to preserve the Tinker's privacy, paid directly into an account tied directly into the Tinker's civilian identity.

Unsurprisingly, given that Norman got the impression that Arachne was still underage despite her height, the hero in question had opted for the former for the time being.

Normally, at this point, Oscorp scientists and technicians would be studying the resulting samples for months or even years before making any headway at all, with only the rare occasion where new technological breakthroughs happening within the first few weeks of the process. For Arachne...

Doctor Curt Conners had successfully replicated all three of the formulas Arachne had provided before she had even left the building. _Without_ her direct assistance. Just using his thorough understanding of chemistry and following the directions provided by her notes. Contrary to what most Tinker's thought, their notes often proved to be less helpful in reverse engineering their Tinkertech than they believed. So a Tinker that actually provided concise and _comprehensible_ notes was a damned rare find indeed, suggesting that Arachne might be a Thinker/Tinker amalgamation.

Which wouldn't surprise Norman in the least at this point, as it was readily apparent that Arachne was what was frequently referred to as a "grab-bag" cape. Increased strength, agility, and reflexes, the ability to traverse vertical and even inverted surfaces with ease, and a Tinker specialty apparently involving various forms of webfluid and how to dispense it.

Naturally it was the Tinker abilities that interested Oscorp the most, and Arachne's webfluid formulas were a good first prize right out of the gate.

Sure, some people were bound to deride it as a sort of poor man's knock off of the containment foam used by the PRT, but Norman could see the potential for Arachne's product to be far more versatile than confoam could ever hope to be.

Just one example, brought about by Arachne coming up with a new formula within fifteen minutes of Dr. Conners asking if she knew how fire resistant her webbing was, was the fire retardant webbing. Which had most of the same properties as her original formula, plus the added bonus of actually suppressing open flames when applied, while still being strong, breathable, and resiliant. Safe for use against normal, chemical, _and_ electrical fires, capable of providing temporary structural support for damaged ceilings, walls, and floors, or emergency netting for otherwise trapped victims to climb up or down, or safety nets to jump down onto...

Hell, even the possibilities with just the regular webbing were just as varied, and it was still at least fire resistant if not quite as much as the formula Arachne specifically designed for actually fighting fires.

And a specifically hypoallergenic formula that promoted wound healing, apparently thought up by Arachne before she came in, that could be potentially be used as temporary bandages by even the most sensitive patients. A claim that would be thoroughly tested before being marketed as such of course. Assumptions lead to lawsuits after all. And the regular webbing without the added benefits was still biologically inert and therefore safe to use as temporary bandages. Still, Norman could see Oscorp's profits soar once Arachne's Medical Webbing hit the market.

Norman could also imagine the expression on Max Ander's face, when Oscorp took the lead in medical research for a change. Norman had wanted to punch the insufferable prick ever since first meeting the man. Charming, yes, but something just felt off about the man, and Norman had taken an instant disliking to him.

Norman envisioned a future not long from now where firefighters, rescue crews, E.M.T.s, and police officers were all equipped with varients of Arachne's Weave, a product of Oscorp.

Yes. Arachne's Weave would be a good name for the product line. Very fitting and definitely marketable.

The fact that all three current formulas supposedly broke down in an environmentally friendly manner was just a bonus really. A good selling point, especially if it proved to be even more environmentally friendly than confoam, but even without that, they would still be valuable future products.

Norman Osborn's thoughts were interrupted when his cell phone rang. It was his son's number, and checking the time revealed that it was both after normal business hours and after Harry's shift had ended. "Hello, Harry," he answered with some slight concern in his voice as normally it was he who called his son rather than the other way around.

"Hi, Dad," Harry's voice was almost normal, but Norman could tell that something had happened.

"What's wrong?"

"I nearly got hit by a car today, and it got me thinking... I didn't want our last words to each other to be us fighting again."

"I'll pick you up for dinner tonight. Ask your wife where she wants us to eat. It'll be my treat. No arguments, no fighting, not even any business talk. Let's just... catch up, okay?"

"That'd be great, Dad. We'll be ready. See you at seven?"

"Seven's fine. See you then."

Norman Osborn, C.E.O. of Oscorp, set aside all thoughts of the potential for Arachne's Weave for the night. Norman Osborn, father, had a son who desperately needed him.


	11. Chapter 9

**ARACHNE** **  
A WORM/Spiderverse story  
by Tangent**

"Hi, Rich, Bobbie!" Taylor called out as she got the bus at Arcadia.

"Hey, Tay Tay! Richie has some news for us!"

"Oh?" Taylor's interest was piqued.

"Yes," Richard Fisk nodded. "I told my folks about our small study group..."

"The Arconaughts!" Roberta interjected with what was apparently the latest iteration of their study buddy club's name.

"If I may continue before the morning bell rings?"

"Sorry, Richie! Go on, tell her!"

"Thank you. Anyway, my parents were ecstatic about our plans to try to stay in Arcadia, but they want us to get to know one another properly before we start meeting up outside of school. Anyway, here's my dad's number." Rich handed Roberta and Taylor each a business card. "Have your folks call mine sometime this week anytime before ten at night so we can schedule a meet and greet. Dad was thinking some time Saturday or Sunday would be good."

"Sure, I'll..." Taylor was interrupted by the morning bell. "I'll ask my dad once he gets home from work," she concluded just before the three split up to head for their respective homerooms.

Hopefully, once the weather warmed up, her bus would start to arrive earlier. Not that it had actually been late since she had started coming to Arcadia, but she figured that it would only be a matter of time with how close it was cutting it.

* * *

"Aisha, why aren't you in school?" Brian asked as his sister blatantly walked in the front door of the Undersider's lair.

"School's boring, and I'm a supervillain," Aisha stated as if that explained everything. Which, in her mind, it did. "Why ain't you in school, if you care so much?"

"I got my G.E.D. and a paying job," Brian retorted.

"As a supervillain," Aisha snarked back.

"She's got you there," Alec replied from where he was playing videogames on the couch.

"It's a legitimate job," Brian protested.

"Do you legitimately show up there?" Aisha demanded.

"Well, no, but..."

"Then it's not a real job! We get paid to be supervillains! _Why_ would I need to go to school when I already _have_ the job I want?"

"So you can have a civilian identity that can believably spend all the money you're earning," Lisa interjected before Brian blew his top. "Anyway, since you're here, the boss had a delivery for you." So saying, she handed Aisha a package.

Opening it up, Aisha grinned as she pulled out a red and black costume. "Sweet! I'm trying this on right now!"

"Fine," Brian sighed in defeat. "Go ahead, we may as well see what it loo... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

"Duh! I'm getting dressed!" Aisha stated, already stripped half naked (she had had a lot of practice getting in and out of her clothes over the past couple of weeks and had it down to almost a science).

"You have a room! Use it!"

"Why should I? The costume's right here!"

"You can't run around naked where other people can see you!"

"Well then you should be happy to know that I've always stayed invisible whenever I go out streaking."

"I suppose that's... Wait, YOU DO WHAT!?"

"Streaking. You know, where I take off all my clothes and run around naked in public? So far I've done all four schools, the mall, some shopping centers..."

"I'm impressed," Alec commented. "I think he's speechless. You really do all that?"

"I'm a supervillain," Aisha replied as she finished undressing and started pulling her costume on. "What do I care about the rules? Besides, like I said, I was invisible every time I did it."

"If you're _really_ going to go commando under your costume, then I suggest using baby powder to prevent chaffing," Lisa suggested. "You'll thank me later. Trust me."

* * *

Flash Thomson fumed as he glared at Veder from across the room. So far the punk from Winslow had basically shrugged off everything Flash had said while they were in school. Coach Grady had already suspended Jake and Cody from the team until they got their grades back up, and while Flash had somehow managed to squeak by so far, it had to be just a matter of time before he got booted from the team too, losing the one good thing he had going for him.

Just one more disappointment for his dad to harp on him about.

And there Veder sat at his desk, not a care in the world, busy doing one of his assignments like a dutiful overachieving supernerd.

Greg, for his part, remained largely unaware of Flash's mistaken impression of him as he doodled out actuator assemblies and the calculations for how to solve the issues he was having getting his waldo harness to be more than just a very fancy prop that he could make wave at people.

* * *

"Morning, Pete."

"Morning, Eddy," Parker replied, looking up from his tablet.

"We just got informed that Shadow Stalker escaped from juvie last night."

"Shadow Stalker was in juvie?"

"You didn't know?"

"Eddy, I've been under M/S observation for over half a month now. Nobody tells me anything. I didn't even know Stalker was in juvie. What'd she do?"

"No idea, but given the timing, she may have been involved in the Winslow incident somehow."

"You think she was one of the girls who set up that so-called prank?"

"Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Girl's as mean as a snake, and half as friendly. Heh..."

"What?"

"Well, given the gear Stalker is used to using and the types of places Ghost Spider's been hitting, maybe the two will meet and take each other out."

"They're both kids, Eddy."

"Maybe a light maiming then?"

* * *

Shadow Stalker rested on the cot she had left in one of her old bolt holes from before she had been forced into the Wards. Not that there was much there, but she had kept a change of clothes, a good sized stash of hunting bolts for her crossbow, and some spare costume pieces. Not enough to get her old look together just using them, but enough to make do.

What she _didn't_ have, was an actual crossbow to use.

She also didn't have Emma to either buy what she needed, or bring it to her discretely. Not that Emma would have been able to do it now anyway, even if Stalker had managed to escape with her (which hadn't happened, as Sophia couldn't think of a way to bring her friend with her).

Crap. She couldn't stay here. Emma knew about this bolt hole, and sooner or later someone would tell her that she had left her behind.

Okay, then she'd just have pack up what she could, and take it with her to some place Emma didn't know about.

Preferably someplace like this that got at least some waste heat.

A short while later, Sophia Hess poked her head into the alley to see if the coast was clear...

Really!?

The jaybirds again?

Seriously, what the fuck was with those two?

Fuck it. They never really pay attention to anything anyway once they're this far into their little act.

Sophia walked up, rifled through the carelessly discarded clothing for the guy's wallet, stuffed it in the lady's purse, simply adding it to what she was already carrying as she left to find a new hideout.


End file.
